Fort St. John assault victim dies of injuries

According to The Province, one of the men involved in a late-night fight in July in Fort St. John has succumbed to his injuries. The 41-year-old, who has been identified by family as Chris Ball, had been in the ICU of the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Edmonton since the assault on July 22.

Police say the oilpatch worker was removed from life-support on Thursday. Ball was from Mission, B.C. and was living in Calgary.

The fatal fight occurred at 2:43 a.m. that Sunday morning at the corner of 100th and 100th. When RCMP attended the scene, they found one male unconscious and another with a facial injury. Police believe a verbal argument occurred between a group of four males and the two victims. A fight then broke out between both groups. One of the males provided first aid to the injured males, while the others left before police arrived.

The RCMP were able to identify the other people involved in the fight and arrested two males. The RCMP believe that alcohol was a contributing factor to the fight. William Ted Metcalfe of Kelowna and Joel Christopher Marchand of Prince George have been charged with one count each of assault causing bodily harm and one count each of aggravated assault. There's no word yet on whether those charges will change now that Ball has passed away.

If you have any more information on this assault, please call the RCMP at 250-787-8100 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or go online to www.crimestoppersfsj.ca.